A man who was attempting to sell his pricey Rolex wristwatch at an Astoria restaurant had it stolen instead at the stroke of midnight on Saturday, Sept. 13.
Police say the 45-year-old victim arranged to meet an unidentified man inside The Grand at 37-01 30th Ave. through Facebook Marketplace. During the transaction, the victim placed his watch on the table, and the suspect snatched it and ran out of the eatery, according to the NYPD. He was last seen running southbound on 37th Street toward Broadway.
The victim was not injured during the grand larceny, and the value of the stolen Rolex was approximately $13,800, police said.
The NYPD released a surveillance image of the suspect and described him as having a medium complexion, 20 to 25 years of age, with a black afro, beard, and mustache, and medium build. He wore a black sweatshirt and black sweatpants.
A reward of up to $3,500 is being offered for information that leads to his arrest and indictment.
Anyone with information regarding this grand larceny investigation is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are confidential.
Through Sept. 28, the 114th Precinct in Astoria has reported 685 grand larcenies so far in 2025, 69 fewer than the 754 reported at the same point last year, a decline of 9.2%, according to the most recent CompStat report.
